Nonkululeko Gobodo
AWAKENED Global CEO
Nonkululeko is the CEO of AWAKENED Global. She is the former Chairman and founder of SizweNtsalubaGobodo, now SNG Grant Thornton, the largest black auditing and accounting firm and the fifth largest in South Africa. Nonkululeko is the first black African woman to qualify as a chartered accountant in South Africa. She is a founder member of Gobodo Inc, a medium sized black accounting firm which she established in 1996 with a group of other partners.
In 2011, Nonkululeko played a key role, as one of the leaders in the successful merger of Gobodo Inc. and SizweNtsaluba to form SizweNtsalubaGobodo. This was a move that changed the landscape of the accounting profession in South Africa, ushering in a new era of economic transformation.
Nonkululeko started her career as a junior lecturer at the then University of Transkei, now Walter Sisulu University in 1984. She left to begin her training as an accountant with KPMG in the Mthatha office. She later joined the Transkei Development Corporation (TDC) as a Chief Financial Officer. She left TDC in 1992 to establish an accounting practice in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
She serves on the boards of PPC LTD and Shoprite Holdings which are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Nonkululeko’s career has been the subject of case studies by the Business School of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and Lincoln University in New Zealand, collaborating with two other universities. She has received the following awards: In 2010 she received the Woman of Substance award by The African Women Chartered Accountants; 2011 ABASA presented her with a lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 she was recognized as the Businesswoman of the year at the Standard Bank Top Women Awards. She was awarded Outstanding Woman in Business Award at the BBQ Awards 2014. Also Awarded a Lifetime Achievement award: Excellency in Accountancy at the SA Professional Services Awards 2014. In 2016 she received a pioneering entrepreneur Award by the Black Business Council. She also received the platinum Award at the BBQ Awards in 2016.
WHAT NONKULULEKO WILL BE LOOKING FOR: “I am looking for a woman who has clarity of vision for her business and has shown resilience through challenging times.”